The instant invention relates to seat belts and more particularly to a safety lock for a vehicle seat belt which can be utilized for preventing a small child from removing his or her seat belt while riding in a vehicle.
Statistical evidence has clearly proven the merits of wearing seat belts while riding in automobiles. Specifically, it has clearly been shown that the chances of a person sustaining serious physical injury when involved in an automobile accident are significantly reduced when the person is wearing his or her seat belt. In fact, for this reason many jurisdictions have adopted mandatory seat belt laws which require the use of seat belts by all persons riding in motor vehicles.
One of the problems which has frequently been encountered in connection with the use of seat belts is that it is often difficult to prevent young children from removing their seat belts while they are riding in vehicles. This problem is particularly significant with respect to young children who are riding in the back seats of vehicles where it may not be readily apparent to the other passengers of the vehicles that the children have removed their seat belts.
The instant invention relates to an effective device for preventing young children from removing their seat belts while they are riding in vehicles. Specifically, the instant invention provides a safety lock which is operable for preventing a small child from opening a seat belt buckle of the type utilized for detachably interconnecting first and second seat belt sections, wherein the buckle includes a body portion and a release button on the body portion which is operative for disconnecting the seat belt sections. More specifically, the safety lock of the instant invention comprises a housing having hingeably connected first and second housing sections which are securable in a closed position wherein they cooperate to define an open interior cavity for receiving and containing a seat belt buckle therein and wherein the housing sections further cooperate to define first and second openings at opposite ends of the housing for passing first and second seat belt sections outwardly therethrough, respectively, when the seat belt buckle is received in the housing. The openings are dimensioned to prevent the passage of the seat belt buckle outwardly therethrough while nevertheless permitting at least one of the seat belt sections to be removed from the housing when the seat belt sections are disconnected. The safety lock further includes a means for releasably retaining the housing in a closed position which preferably comprises a locking portion mounted in one of the housing sections and a removable key which is operable for moving the locking portion between a locked position wherein it secures the first and second housing sections in a closed position and an unlocked position wherein the housing sections are hingeably separable. The locking portion preferably includes a rotatable barrel portion having a peripheral collar thereon, and it is preferably received in a mounting hole in one of the housing sections so that the collar normally prevents the locking portion from being moved inwardly into the housing. The locking portion is, however, preferably constructed so that it is frangible by depressing it inwardly, and hence it can be moved inwardly into the housing to release the two housing sections to an open position. The housing is preferably further formed with an aperture therein which is substantially aligned with the release button on the buckle when the buckle is received in the housing and the housing is in the closed position. The aperture is preferably dimensioned to prevent access to the release button with a finger of an operator but to permit access to the release button with an instrument of smaller dimension than the finger. Specifically, the aperture preferably has a width of less than approximately one quarter of an inch so that access to the release button with a finger is prevented but so that access to the release button can be obtained with an instrument of smaller dimension, such as the key for the releasable retaining means. Further, the housing is preferably constructed so that it has a pair of the apertures therein, one which is substantially aligned with the release button on a buckle when the buckle is in a normal first position in the housing and another which is substantially aligned with the release button on the buckle when the buckle is in an inverted second position in the housing.
Accordingly, for use and operation of the safety lock of the instant invention, it is secured in the closed position thereof on the buckle of a seat belt assembly so that the first and second seat belt sections connected to the buckle pass outwardly through the openings in the ends of the housing. When the safety lock is assembled in this manner, a key or a similar instrument is normally required to operate the locking portion in order to open the housing sections to a position wherein the release button is accessible. Alternatively, access to the release button can also be obtained by passing an instrument through one of the apertures in the housing, although since the apertures are dimensioned to prevent access to the release button with a finger, a child is normally prevented from gaining access to the release button to disconnect the seat belt sections. Hence, when the seat belt is worn by a young child, the chances that the seat belt will be removed by the child are substantially reduced. However, in the event of an emergency, the locking portion of the releasable retaining means can be depressed inwardly into the housing to enable the housing to be moved to an open position without the use of a key in the locking portion and without passing an instrument through one of the apertures so that an adult can quickly open the safety lock.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the instant invention to provide a device for preventing small children from removing their seat belts while riding in automobiles.
Another object of the instant invention is to provide a safety lock comprising a housing for receiving a buckle of a seat belt therein so that access to the buckle by a small child is prevented.
A still further object of the instant invention is to provide a simple locking device for a seat belt buckle which can easily be operated by an adult but not by a small child.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention shall become apparent as the description thereof proceeds when considered in connection with the accompanying illustrative drawings.